Page 44 of Shifter's Homecoming

“Graeme says no, and he says he’s never heard of such a thing. He says echoes can act as portals, but he’s never heard of a hot portal.” He looked toward the back room. “Smokey is still unconscious.”

Another note appeared. Troy snatched it out of the air. He read it out loud right away. “Not him. The pure one.”

Troy looked up, mouthing the words over again, then understanding dawned on his face.

“Kendra,” he said. “Kendra is the hot portal. Kendra has to touch him.”

30 - Mission Complete

Trent was wrong about the fifty-nine minutes. She came out in forty-six, her face and manner all business, even though her face and eyes were red, like she’d silently cried the entire time she’d been in there.

She came close to him. She shined a flashlight in his eyes. She took his pulse. She held a hand to his forehead.

She took something out of the pocket of her lab coat and pushed it into the pocket of his tactical pants, not looking at him while she did so.

“I know you wanted that. There it is, and now it’s time for you to go.”

She turned and walked away from him, heading for her desk.

Trent’s heart bottomed out. He stuck his hand in his pocket to see what she’d give him. A stoppered, full test tube, with instructions and an ingredients list on a folded piece of paper.

“No,” he murmured. He looked up and around for any sign of Smokey. “No, don’t you do it,” he growled into the room. “I’m not ready. Don’t you dare take me away.”

He ran for Rowan, crossing the room quickly. He grabbed her from behind, encircling her with his arms, thinking he could bring her with him, he had to be able tobring her home with him.She squeaked, but did not struggle. She let him fold her into him.

They did not disappear. They did not go anywhere. They stayed right there where they were, standing near her desk, in her clinic, in Tranquility, in a world that he did not belong in.

Trent did not know what to want. He did not know what to hope for. He had accomplished his mission, he was sure of it, but did that mean he’d lose what really mattered to him? When another twenty seconds passed, and he did not disappear, and his mate did not push him away, he began to hope that maybe—maybe he would finish his mission, and get the female, too. Maybe it would all turn out all right.

Rowan’s rich and sweet meadow-flower scent went deeper and flowing, like she was open to him, or maybe even aroused.

His mate wanted him.

Trent growled lightly. He moved in close. He kissed the back of her neck. He pulled her to him. She sighed, then moaned ever so very slightly, and his cock went instantly ramrod stiff and straight.

He would have his mate.

He growled in her ear again, then licked her skin. She responded, her hips bucking back against him. His eyes went to that delicate place where her neck met her shoulder and the urge to bite took hold of him. To bite, to hold, to fuck, to thrust.

He would claim his mate.

Trent pressed into his soft and sweet-smelling female, meaning to take her, but… but he felt weak.

“Let me go,” she said resignedly. “I told you that you have to go, and I meant it.”

Trent’s arms fell to his side. He stumbled backwards. He shook his head. He tried to speak. No words came out. He felt… weird. His vision narrowed and the room fell away. He looked at his mate through a sort of visual funnel, with blackness all around the edges.

Rowan turned and peered into his face. Her expression went confused, then alarmed.

He tilted. He dropped. He hit the floor and used the last of his energy to roll to his back to stare at her.

“Trent, no,” she said, dropping to her knees, her hand going straight to the pulse point on his wrist, then the one on his neck. “Stay with me.”

Trent was slowly losing all sense of himself, but he could see his mate. She looked lovely as she worked on him on the floor. She pulled out machinery. She stuck a needle in his arm. She was crying, her tears falling on his face.

“No, Trent, I didn’t mean it,” she said. “None of it. I love you. I always will. I can get past it, I can, just please, please, please come back to me.”

… but her voice was fading, and fading… and fading.

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